This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/161,932, filed Jun. 4, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference.
This apllication claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/355,446, filed on Feb. 7, 2002.
The present invention relates to trailers, and, in particular to a trailer intended to carry a vehicle.
There are many types of vehicles, such as golf carts, tracked vehicles, and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), that are not intended to be driven on the open road. In order to get these vehicles from one place to another, they typically are carried in a trailer. However, loading the vehicle onto the trailer and aligning the towing vehicle with the trailer are time-consuming tasks which make it undesirable to use the vehicles. For example, a hunter may leave his ATV at home if he is only going for a half-day trip, since the tasks associated with taking the ATV along are too time consuming.
It is known in the art to provide a trailer with a platform that can be lowered down to allow a vehicle to be driven onto the trailer and can then be raised to tow the vehicle. Such trailers are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,131 “Behr” and U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,544 “Wellman”, which are hereby incorporated by reference. These trailers may even provide a mechanism for securing the vehicle to the trailer, as, for example, the Wellman reference has tie-down eyelets 39. However, these trailers are not made in a manner that permits the towed vehicle to drive the trailer while it is inside the trailer. Both in the raised and in the lowered positions, the tires or other driving feet of the vehicle are unable to contact the ground in a manner that would permit them to drive the trailer.
Other trailers are made to raise and lower to help lift freight to be carried on the trailer. Examples of these are U.S. Pat. No. 2,495,449 “Francis” and U.S. Pat. No. 2,487,508 “Anderson”, which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Unitec Go Jak is a dolly with a jack that can be used to lift and manually move a vehicle on caster wheels. The vehicle tires do not drive the dolly. This dolly is not a trailer, does not have any type of towing tongue, and is not intended to be towed behind a vehicle.
There are also driver training tools, which can be used to help a driver simulate skid conditions while driving an automobile. Such devices are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,798 “Johansson” and U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,594 “Orloski”, which are hereby incorporated by reference. These devices are not trailers, and they have no type of towing tongue to permit them to be connected to a towing vehicle. Instead, they are secured onto the frame of the vehicle and travel with the vehicle. The instructor can use the hydraulic lifts in these devices to raise and lower the vehicle in order to simulate skid conditions.